Albert Creek update - July 28th

It seems that in the last couple of days Albert Creek has been catching up with Teslin Lake - in slowness of things! Yesterday we banded 37 and today only 14 new birds for a total of 260 birds of 27 species so far. However, typical for Albert Creek, we are getting many recaptures - 18 yesterday and 11 today. The top five species banded as of yesterday are Tennessee Warbler 45, Northern Waterthrush 36, Common Yellowthroat 30, Myrtle Warbler 26 and American Redstart 16. For a full list and comparison with last year see the bottom of this post. The banding highlight of the last two days was a Belted Kingfisher on each day, an adult female yesterday and a young female today.

Adult female Belted Kingfisher ©Jukka Jantunen

Even though it was a quiet day at the nets today it was not an unexciting day in the field. The European Starlings (19 today) continue to roost along the road and both the MacGillivray's Warbler and the Pileated Woodpecker continue to grace us with their presence. Some of the typically southeast Yukon specialties like American Redstart, Magnolia Warbler, Swamp and White-throated Sparrow, and Western Tanager also continue to be easily found. A female Spruce Grouse with her young in the "gauntlet" area has been of great excitement for Kelly who had never seen one before. Today the spruce forest became alive too and some of the highlights from there included a family of Red-breasted Nuthatches, a Golden-crowned Kinglet, a female/hatch-year Cape May Warbler and at least 70 White-winged Crossbills!

Below you'll find the complete list of birds banded at Albert Creek during the first five days of operation this season (Jul 23-27) and, in brackets, the number of birds banded last year during the same time period. The start last year was exceptionally good.

Solitary Sandpiper - 1
Belted Kingfisher - 1
Yellow-bellied Sapsucker - 3 (7)
Alder Flycatcher - 5 (9)
Least Flycatcher - 7 (3)
Hammond's Flycatcher - 3 (7)
Warbling Vireo - 8 (12)
Gray Jay - 1
Black-capped Chickadee - 5 (2)
Ruby-crowned Kinglet - 2 (14)
Swainson's Thrush - 9 (14)
American Robin - 1 (1)
Tennessee Warbler - 45 (127)
Yellow Warbler - 6 (14)
Magnolia Warbler - 8 (4)
Yellow-rumped (Myrtle) Warbler - 26 (27)
Blackpoll Warbler - 1
American Redstart - 16 (19)
Northern Waterthrush - 36 (40)
MacGillivray's Warbler - 1
Common Yellowthroat - 30 (52)
Chipping Sparrow - 1 (2)
Fox Sparrow -1
Lincoln's Sparrow - 15 (28)
Swamp Sparrow - 4 (8)
White-throated Sparrow - 6 (8)
Dark-eyed Junco - 7
= 246 (425) birds of 27 species
0.47 birds/net hr

Species banded last year during this period but not caught this year: Boreal Chickadee 2, Red-breasted Nuthatch 1, Cedar Waxwing 3, Orange-crowned Warbler 5, Bay-breasted Warbler 1, Western Tanager 2, Rusty Blackbird 3, White-winged Crossbill 3 and Pine Siskin 7.
Jukka


Alder Flycatcher aka T-Rex ©Kelly Riggs


Magnolia Warbler lunching while being banded ©Jukka Jantunen